Learning Theory

When designing learning environments, careful attention must be paid to address the latest research in learning theory. Learning theory is just as the name implies, the theory of how we learn. Over the past century, numerous scholars have paved the way and theorized teaching and learning from a number of perspectives. Keeping these perspectives in mind is critical to the development of a successful learning environment.

The tenets of constructivism are widely accepted as the most encompassing of all learning theories. Rather than knowledge being transmitted one way from teacher to student, constructivism assumes that “knowledge is individually constructed and socially constructed by learners based on their interpretations of experiences in the world” (Jonassen, 1999, p. 217). It becomes our job as educators to provide these experiences and engage students in authentic, meaningful tasks. Through its collaborative and content creation properties, technology has bought constructivist principles to the forefront of educational debate. The feedback systems of computers has allowed for inquiry based learning environments where knowledge can be scaffolded. The Web Based Science Inquiry Environment (WISE) capitalizes on these feedback structures in what Linn et al. (2002) named, the Scaffolded Knowledge Integration (SKI) framework. Similar to the inquiry-based activities central to WISE, one could also tweak the design of their iBook to capitalize on this proven methodology.

With the rapid advancement in technology, there is much discourse in education in moving towards a theory of online learning. Anderson (2008) points out that this theory must be learning centred and “acknowledge the change from an era of shortage and restriction to an era of abundant content” (Anderson, 2008, p.53). New software programs such as iBooks author will play a huge roll in the development of such learning theories. Due to its infancy, there is research that needs to be conducted on this and other environments to help broaden the lens and create an effective theory of online learning.